Team Honda Enhances Supercross Performance Review and Brand Impact with ViewSonic Displays

CASE STUDY

Team Honda Enhances Supercross Performance Review and Brand Impact with ViewSonic Displays

COMPANY

Honda Powersports is an American Honda Motor Company brand and the sole distributor of Honda motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, and Side-by-Sides in the United States. The Honda Power Sports & Products business unit conducts the sales, marketing, and operational activities for these products through independent authorized Honda retail dealers. Formed in 1982, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) is a racing division of the Honda Motor Company and is responsible for Honda’s motorcycle racing activities, including AMA Supercross motorcycle racing. Honda Racing Corporation encompasses both the management of motorcycle and teams throughout the world and the development of racing motorcycles.

“It was a big improvement over what we were doing in the past, which was a simple fabric banner. The ViewSonic display was much more attention-grabbing. At every event people would go up to it and see what it’s all about.”

— Jose Monge Jr, Red Rider Program Coordinator for American Honda Motor Co.

THE CHALLENGE

A newer version of motocross (MX), Supercross (SX) brings dirt bike racing indoors, delivering high-energy stadium events with an easy view of the action. Seven manufacturers currently create the motorcycles that compete in the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Supercross Championship, which consists of 17 rounds held in venues across the U.S. and Canada. At each event, brands vie for attention from fans in sold-out stadiums. Each motorcycle maker sponsors a team, and the riders themselves are one of the biggest marketing platforms.

To further showcase the Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) and the Honda Motorsports brand, Team Honda highlights its pit and riders with retractable fabric banners in the arena. Recently, a fan with insight into digital signage proposed an enhancement, while also suggesting an improvement to the team’s performance review system.

“We bring a team trailer truck to the events and after warm ups, qualifiers, and races the coaches sit with the riders and review their performance,” said Red Rider Program Coordinator for American Honda Motor Co. Jose Monge Jr. “It’s just like any premier-level sport, like football players going over their plays.”

To enable this rapid, on-site review, Team Honda staff haul monitors and video equipment to each event. The quality of those monitors, they were to discover, could make a notable difference.

THE SOLUTION

An unexpected encounter introduced Team Honda to new ways to improve both their on-site messaging and digital performance reviews.

Many Supercross fans like to enhance race day with a pit pass, which allows them to mingle with riders, mechanics, and motorcycles, and experience the energy that surrounds Supercross competition. This was where Monge and his team met Jeff Volpe, President of ViewSonic Americas.

“He saw the monitors we were using to review practice rounds and introduced himself,” said Monge. “He told us, ‘I’m in the monitor business and our monitors can do a better job for you than what you’re using now.’”

Volpe recommended the ViewSonic ELITE™ XG320Q 32-inch gaming monitor, which delivers ultra-smooth images, rapid response time, and a wide color gamut ideal for viewing the intricacies of fast-paced Supercross rides.

Next, Volpe suggested that Team Honda try a rolling promotion to draw attention to both companies’ brands, using two ViewSonic CDE5010 displays housed in weather-proof rolling cases.

Jeff is a terrific Supercross fan,” said Monge. “He’s enthusiastic about Honda racing and we were thrilled to implement his ideas.”

THE RESULTS

The 2023 AMA Supercross Championship series began on January 7th at the Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Among the excitement and hype, the HRC riders and Team Honda support staff spent many more serious moments reviewing warm ups on the new ViewSonic monitors. Later, between the qualifiers and heats, the performance reviews became even more critical. The visuals, said Monge, were noticeably better. 

“Right away it was clear from looking at them that these are premium monitors,” said Monge. “The images are very crisp and clear; it also helps for us that they’re lighter weight, since we move them around a lot.”

The vibrant 50-inch displays in their rolling cases paired perfectly with the energy-filled scene. A video loop ran an alternating series of Honda Powersports and ViewSonic messaging, along with a QR code linking to the “ViewSonic-Honda Gear Up Giveaway” prize lottery.

“It was a big improvement over what we were doing in the past, which was a simple fabric banner,” said Monge. “The ViewSonic display was much more attention-grabbing. At every event people would go up to it and see what it’s all about.”

The display accompanied Monge and the HRC team to each of the 17 Supercross rounds that year, running for upwards of eight hours each day. The displays and cases held up beautifully, said Monge, even in the occasional rainy weather they encountered.

The season wrapped up on Saturday, May 13th at the Salt Lake City Rice-Eccles Stadium, with Team Honda rider Chase Sexton taking the number one spot, giving Honda its first Supercross Championship in 20 years. A coincidence perhaps, but the crystal-clear performance reviews and added audience hype brought by the ViewSonic displays couldn’t have hurt.

ViewSonic CDE5010

ViewSonic ELITE™ XG320Q